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Uptake of video telehealth in general practice: an Australian whole-of-population analysis
Butler Danielle C, Law Hsei Di, Phillips Christine, Douglas Kirsty A, Hall Dykgraaf Sally, Agostino Jason, Banks Emily, Freeman-Robinson Rachel et al.. BJGP open, 2025-07-31
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Video use remains low in primary care telehealth consultations. Little is known about patterns of use or policy levers to promote video. To investigate use of video telehealth in Australian general practice under permanent telehealth arrangements post-COVID-19 lockdowns, and during a policy change removing reimbursement for long telephone consultations. Whole-of-population analysis of 2022 national healthcare claims linked to 2021 census data. We quantified the following: proportions of telehealth consultations by video, and of patients and GPs who used video for telehealth consultations; associations between video use and patient characteristics using Poisson regression; and video use in relation to policy changes using interrupted time-series analysis. Of 38 million GP telehealth consultations in 2022, 5.1% were by video; 8.6% of patients and 62% of GPs who used telehealth had used video. Patients most likely to use video lived remotely, were frequent GP users, or had multiple health conditions, mental health conditions or dementia. Socioeconomic disadvantage was modestly associated with lower use of video. Over 2022, use of video for telehealth decreased for consultations (from 6.5% of consultations in January to 4.1% in December), patients (from 6.7% to 4.4%), and GPs (from 40.0% to 26.0%). Time-series analyses showed downward trends before removal of reimbursement for long telephone consultations, small step increases immediately following, and shallower negative trends thereafter. Use of video telehealth consultations in general practice in Australia is low and declining, more so for disadvantaged groups. Differential financial reimbursement of video and telephone consultations has not substantively increased video use in clinical practice.
Key findings
- Socioeconomic disadvantage was modestly associated with lower use of video.
Why it matters
This analysis of Australian general practice found that video telehealth use was low and declined over 2022, with patients who had dementia among those more likely to use video. It concerns telehealth use and policy, not treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
Study details
- Effect size5.1%; 8.6%; 6.5%
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 32/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (BJGP open) |
| Journal's citation record | 0 / 4 | BJGP Open: journal h-index 39 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 1 / 7 | Cited 1 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-17) |
| Citations per year | 0 / 5 | 0.3 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025 |
| Impact for its field and year | 1 / 6 | Cited 0.8× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 1 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Rosemary Korda: h-index 34 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | Australian National University: institution h-index 1,083 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40738688) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 32 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Butler Danielle, C., Di, L. H., Christine, P., Douglas Kirsty, A., Sally, H. D., Jason, A., et al. (2025). Uptake of video telehealth in general practice: an Australian whole-of-population analysis. BJGP open. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgpo.2025.0011
Vancouver
Butler Danielle C, Di LH, Christine P, Douglas Kirsty A, Sally HD, Jason A, et al. Uptake of video telehealth in general practice: an Australian whole-of-population analysis. BJGP open. 2025. doi:10.3399/bjgpo.2025.0011. PMID: 40738688.
BibTeX
@article{butlerdanielle2025-40738688,
author = {Butler Danielle, C. and Di, Law Hsei and Christine, Phillips and Douglas Kirsty, A. and Sally, Hall Dykgraaf and Jason, Agostino and Emily, Banks and Rachel, Freeman-Robinson and others},
title = {{Uptake of video telehealth in general practice: an Australian whole-of-population analysis}},
journal = {BJGP open},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.3399/bjgpo.2025.0011},
pmid = {40738688},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgpo.2025.0011}
}
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